Infielders dominate the MLB Trade Deadline, such as Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, Rafael Devers, and Jose Abreu. Other commodities outside of the infield are Bryce Harper, Jacob DeGrom, J.A. Happ, Billy Hamilton, Blake Treinen, and Jon Gray.
MANNY MACHADO: For months, people have been asking where Machado will end up and it looks like the options have been narrowed down to a few teams. Boston, New York, and Arizona look like the best targets for the shortstop. As for the Red Sox, there’s a small chance that Machado would play short because Xander Bogaerts occupies the position, however who’s to say that Baltimore doesn’t want a slightly younger player guaranteed to stay with them for two more years, such as the X-Man? We’ll tackle Devers’ possibilities in this potential trade later on in this article, but Boston’s pitching prospects like Jay Groome, Tanner Houck, and Bryan Mata make other pretty targets for the Orioles. The Bronx looks like a team better suited for Machado, rather than more suited for Baltimore, because the Yankees’ third baseman, Miguel Andujar, is hitting better than their shortstop, Sir Didi Gregorius (Andujar is batting .283 with 12 home runs and a .830 OPS, while Gregorius is batting .259 with 15 home runs and a .804 OPS.), so Machado would play shortstop instead of third. Baltimore could also use some of New York’s talent, including any of their top prospects, but the Yankees’ poor rotation indicates that they would not be so willing to trade away young pitchers. Of course, Baltimore might not want to trade the star within their division, so instead of Boston or New York, maybe they will consider someone in the other league or even on the other side of the country. The Diamondbacks are another good location for the former third baseman because they need someone other than Nick Ahmed at short because his .218 batting average, 10 home runs, and .682 OPS do not boast as well as Machado’s .305 batting average, 20 home runs, and .931 OPS. The Orioles also are interested in D-Backs’ prospects Jon Duplantier and Taylor Widener. NOLAN ARENADO and JON GRAY: Arenado’s contract expires after next season, so any team lucky enough to snag the future Hall of Famer will have him for the rest of 2018 and all of 2019, which possesses an opportunity for two championship runs. While it may seem unlikely for Colorado to trade their best player, they’re at the point in the season where they have to decide whether or not they want to try to make it to the playoffs. If they do, they probably won’t make many big deals, but if they don’t they will have to think about the future and trade Arenado and Gray for a bunch of prospects to bring up at the same time in the fashion of the Red Sox or Yankees (or now, the Blue Jays, too). Gray’s another Colorado commodity coming clean off a good season, and who doesn’t want an ace pitcher to join their ranks with Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, or Max Scherzer? If Colorado decides that they are not all in (just like Washington they’re a third place team that was expected to be better) then Gray and Arenado should be the first to go, for each will reap huge rewards in the prospects’ category. RAFAEL DEVERS: It seemed, up until recently, like a foregone conclusion that Devers would end the season outside of Boston, but he’s hit .385 with two home runs and seven RBIs (including a 5-5 night at New York) in his last seven games, which means either that he’s more valuable to Boston or he’s a more valuable trade target. Boston ideally wants to trade Devers for Machado, but with a desperate need for good starting pitching, they might look to Colorado for Gray, or possibly to San Francisco for Madison Bumgarner or Los Angeles for Clayton Kershaw. (Both teams’ failures indicate that they need good, young, cheap talent like Devers.) He makes a great trade target, however his recent success indicates that he might be a really helpful piece in a World Series run for the Red Sox. JOSE ABREU, BRYCE HARPER, and BILLY HAMILTON: Power and speed are greatly needed in the postseason. (Boston and San Diego’s manager, Dave Roberts, can attest to speed being a necessity) Abreu and Harper’s obvious power (they’ve hit a combined 32 home runs) and Hamilton’s speed and improved hitting (he’s hit .400 over the last two weeks with four steals and four RBIs) make them prime targets for teams like the Mariners or Braves who have low power or Yankees and Phillies with low speed. JACOB DEGROM and J.A. HAPP: Two excellent starters on two failing teams are great targets for teams such as the Indians or Angels who are both fighting for first place in their division. DeGrom, with a 5-4 record, the best ERA in baseball at 1.84, and 134 strikeouts has been a trade topic since he beat Hamilton out for Rookie of the Year in 2014 and teams such as the two mentioned earlier in this article and the titans in the East, the Red Sox and Yankees, would be more than happy to give up half their farm systems for the starter, so he can bring them a World Series this year. Since he’s under contract until 2021, a team like the Reds or Rays who are seemingly on the rise would pay a high price for the star. Happ is no small player either because he will prove instrumental in the formation of a championship season for whichever lucky team acquires him. He’s 10-4 with a 4.03 ERA and 110 strikeouts and he’s an unrestricted free agent in 2019, so he’s perfect for one championship season. Virtually every team that’s not the Houston Astros needs more good starting pitching, so Happ will be a prime target come the deadline. BLAKE TREINEN: The Oakland closer is an important target because the Athletics are a losing team, so they don’t have much use for a quality closer. He’s signed through 2020, so whoever wins the bid will have him for future runs for a championship and his 21 saves, 0.91 WHIP, and 0.89 ERA definitely do not hurt his reputation. This is the only area of pitching where the Astros might be in need of improvement because the team has a total 19 saves, two less than Treinen has by his lonesome on a failing ballclub. Jesse A. Cook “Infielders Headline Deadline” July 2, 2018
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Half of the best National League pitchers of 2016 have taken a hit, but the other half is still going strong. The three pitchers, Jake Arrieta, Noah Syndergaard, and Madison Bumgarner have been either hurt or terrible this year, but the other three pitchers, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, and Clayton Kershaw, have been definite all-star material. Here’s a comparison of their 2016 and 2017 seasons:
NOAH SYNDERGAARD 2016: Thor stood at third in baseball in Earned Run Average at 2.60 and brought the Mets to the playoffs. Syndergaard led the team to fantastic 87-75 and he was the bane to 218 at-bats, coming in ninth for strikeouts in baseball. 2017: Things looked optimistic at the beginning of spring training when Syndergaard arrived in the best shape he’s ever been in. Throwing faster than ever, he decided to whip the ball too hard for his own body: he tore his right latissimus and is now currently serving time on the disabled list. JON LESTER 2016: The three-time World Series champion was second in baseball in ERA at 2.44. At 197 K’s and 19 and 5, Lester helped lead the Cubbies to a 103 and 58 record and their first World Series win in 108 years. 2017: Lester has stayed strong in 2017 with the 3.83 ERA, the 97 strikeouts, and has an only 1.25 Walks and Hits over Innings Pitched. Going 5-4, Lester will clearly be a major part of the team’s future. JAKE ARRIETA 2016: With a 3.10 ERA, he came in ninth for defending his 2015 title of National League Cy Young Award Winner. With the NL pitcher’s Silver Slugger under his belt, he, alongside Lester, was essential in bringing to the Curse of the Billy Goat to its knees. 2017: Arrieta has barely shown up on the map: his ERA is high at 4.36, his strikeout numbers are low at merely 89, and his 7-5 record is deceiving. In most of his wins, the Cubs score above ten runs, but they score close to five, a usually substantial number, in most of his losses. Clearly, Arrieta is not what he used to be. CLAYTON KERSHAW 2016: The three-time National League Cy Young Award Winner absolutely dominated the Majors last year. His ERA was 1.69, struck out 172 batters, and went 12-4 in only 21 games. He missed a large part of the season and still dominated, in fact those few missed games are what most likely prevented him from his fourth Cy Young Award. 2017: Now, 11-2, Kershaw is on pace for his best season, yet. His ERA is a tiny 2.47, third in all of baseball. Kershaw is still one of, if not, the most dominant pitcher in baseball. MADISON BUMGARNER 2016: At fourth in all of baseball, the MadBum only gave up one average, 2.74 runs per every nine innings. He struck out 251 batters, which was impressive because Bumgarner became one of the few pitchers to remain dominant even after pitching a ton of innings late in the postseason. Despite going for the long haul versus the Royals in the 2014 World Series, the San Francisco ace continued his reign as the Feared Beard from the Bay in 2015 and ‘16. 2017: Well, there’s not much to say about his pitching this year, but based on his preseason incident, let’s just say he hasn’t done a whole lot. Early on in Spring Training, the Giants’ star suffered a season ending injury from a dirtbiking accident. Maybe he’ll be back to his former glory in 2018… MAX SCHERZER 2016: The blue and brown eyed 20 game winner left the world speechless when he performed brilliantly, again. With a 2.96 ERA, he led baseball with 284 K’s. These insane numbers led to his second Cy Young Award, first in the NL (he won it in 2013 in the American League with the Detroit Tigers). 2017: Despite the no-hitter that was lost by A.J. Ellis smacking a chopper off of hi glove, Scherzer leads the Majors with a 2.09 ERA. He leads the NL with 145 strikeouts, second in baseball only to Boston’s Chris Sale with 155. With the year he’s having, another great award looks to be in the near future… By all intents and purposes, without the Designated Hitter, the NL pitching stats should be better than the AL’s, but that’s not as true, now, for a fair deal of the league’s former aces. Lester, Kershaw, and Scherzer are all well on their way to coming back atop the NL. The NL’s starting pitchers have split in quite opposite directions, but the second half often brings a quite noticeable change in player’s season stats, so let’s wait and see for how the statistics look by October. Jesse A. Cook "The Rise And Fall Of National League Pitching" June 26, 2017 When A.J. Ellis took the bat against Max Scherzer last Wednesday night, the 36,742 Miami fans at Marlins Park stood on their feet, hoping to either win the game or witness history. With one away in the bottom of the 8th inning of the 1-0 Nats lead, the catcher, Ellis, stared down the Washington Nationals’ starter, Scherzer. With the count at one ball and two strikes, Ellis sent a tragic chopper right back up the middle.
Max Scherzer has had a possibly Hall of Fame career, but he has come uncomfortably close to no-hitters on three occasions with no results. Fortunately, almost exactly two years since the unfortunate Nats versus Marlins game, on June 20, 2015, Scherzer struck success when he beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in a no-no on home turf, and did it again later in the year on October 3 in Flushing Meadows, New York over the Mets. In both of those games, Scherzer came close to perfection. The least aggravating of the two was the latter because of how it was lost and how early on it was lost, too. Third baseman Yunel Escobar would forever regret his inconsistent accuracy after he muffed an easy throw to first base in the 6th inning. The Mets catcher, Kevin Plawecki, would be the only base runner of the entire game. Despite Escobar picking the worst time in baseball history to make an error (with the exceptions of Fred Merkle, Fred Snodgrass, and Bill Buckner), José Tabata committed a far worse atrocity to blow up a Scherzer shot at history. In the top of the 9th inning in Washington D.C., with two out and two strikes, Scherzer threw a pitch that would have caught the upper inside corner of the strike zone if it were not for the eagerness to reach base of the Pirates’ outfielder, Tabata. Home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski missed the obvious call that Tabata had leaned into the pitch to breakup the perfect game, which from then on would merely allow Scherzer to achieve the lesser, but still difficult, no-hitter. The two crowning accomplishments of Scherzer’s career would be far greater if it were not for the carelessness of a fielder and the wickedness of a batter, but Scherzer can only blame his glove for absolutely losing it versus the Marlins. Ellis’s chopper back towards the mound bounced half an inch too high and nicked off of the pitcher’s glove, causing him to lose his third no-no one third of the way through the 8th inning. Unlike missing his opportunities for perfection, Scherzer could not keep his cool and let the bases loaded. Unfortunately, the man with blue and brown eyes threw a wild pitch, allowing José Urena, the pinch runner for Ellis, to score and tie the game. Giancarlo Stanton sent the next pitch into left field and took the lead 2-1; a lead which the Nationals would be unable to tie in the ensuing inning. Scherzer could blame Adam Lind for the loss as he dropped the third out of the 8th, but we still do not know how the 9th would have turned out. Nevertheless, like Dave Stieb, Scherzer has thrown at least one no-hitter in his career, but he constantly comes just too close. Hopefully Scherzer will have a long career, and if he’s lucky, maybe one long enough to finally achieve his long sought-after perfection. Jesse A. Cook “Can’t Catch A Break: Scherzer Loses It In The 8th” June 21, 2017 |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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